It is known to make wound dressings for use on heavily exuding wounds from materials with a high moisture vapour transmission rate (MVTR). Such dressings rely on exudate being taken up by the dressing and spread across much of the surface area of the dressing in order to ensure sufficient moisture evaporation. Examples of such dressings are ALLEVYN™ marketed in adhesive or non-adhesive versions by Smith and Nephew or TIELLE™ marketed by Johnson and Johnson. Such dressings are not designed to absorb and retain the exudate but manage the exudate by allowing the moisture present in the exudate to evaporate. A disadvantage of such dressings is that the lateral wicking of exudate is not contained and can cause normal skin surrounding the wound to macerate. A further disadvantage of such dressings is that the rapid loss of exudate can cause the wound to desiccate.
It is also known to make wound dressings for use on heavily exuding wounds from absorbent materials that absorb and retain exudate in the dressing. A disadvantage of such dressings is that they tend to be rather thick and not particularly conformable to those wounds located in areas requiring a high degree of flexibility from the dressing such as elbows and heels.
There is thus a need for a wound dressing which is capable of managing exudate at the rate it is produced by a wound and which also is able to conform to wound sites on highly contoured areas of the body such as elbows and heels.